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Selvanesco
The capital of Zilaresco is the largest city by both population and area in The Gloaming North, it is a veritable nation unto itself and the beating heart of the north's industrial revolution. Founded in the later days of the bygone Altean Empire by the hero Rolento the Sylvan at the mouth of three rivers, it City Districts Brightwater More commonly referred to as Bleakwater, this area comprises the southeastern portion of the city. Most of the city's factories are located here, befouling the air and water with industrial byproducts. The residential portions are regarded as the most dangerous and least pleasant in the entire city. It is made up of several distinct neighborhoods: Bliss Heights, Brightwater Estates, Goblintown, Shadelight, The Sorrows, and Thunderside. Bliss Heights, known to the locals as the Widow Walls is officially named for the Bliss family, the leading manufacturers of firearms in the north. It's nickname is based on the practice of those who have lost loved ones to gun violence and war to scribe the names of the fallen on the backsides of factories. The gendarmes have long since given up on stopping the practice, due to the staggering volume. Besides the Bliss Firearms complex, there are a number of other factories and workshops that create more innocuous products. Brightwater Estates is the primary residential section of the entire district, it is an ugly grid of redbrick tenements, interrupted by dilapidated parks an public spaces once intended to instill civic virtue but have since become the domain gangs of violent youths and narcotics dealers. The population is still primarily human, though a trickle of Orc-Blooded have moved in through recent years. Goblintown is the ghetto of orcs and jardoun, both lumped together under the "Goblin" label by ignorant northerners. Since nonhuman labor was legalized years ago, this eyesore of shanties has grown and developed until it resembles a shabbier version of Brightwater Estates. Shadelight is tucked behind the residential areas and abuts the outer wall of the city, the area was once simply an unpleasant collection of tanneries and a potter's field, but it has become a notorious red light district. It excesses have become such that the stench of leather making has been overpowered by cheap wine, cheap perfume, and cheaper lust. The Sorrows is actually outside the city walls, it is the most desperate and squalid shanty in the entirety of Zilaresco it's inhabitants are primarily foreigners displaced by the civil war in Gilderdammen or by the Aelfe in Tulles. Thunderside boasts the highest paying factory jobs in the city, these are also the most dangerous jobs. The plants in Thunderside deal in acid, gunpowder, and other volatile and toxic substances. Cloudreach Cloudreach has always been the primary commercial district of Selvanesco, but once upon a time it was simply known by the uninspiring name of "The Central Business District," or "Downtown." Everything changed when the city's renown inventors and investors teamed up to transform everything, to make the city the envy of the world. They engineered the first free-standing high rise, a 15-story, 75 meter high colossus of granite and steel for the First Altane Merchant Bank. From there it became a competition: capitalists and aristocrats formed cooperatives dedicated to the construction of the most fabulous and enormous steel-framed structures. The CBD became visible from every corner of the city, and now dubbed Cloudreach, it had become the evocative image of the city, even for those who have never laid eyes on it. The district is now home to many "skyscraper" towers, which exist here and nowhere else in the Known Lands. However even these mighty edifices are dwarfed by the impossible, hypnotic grandeur of Suspiria the 1000 meter monolith whose top cannot even be seen from the ground. Cloudreach has become a mixed commercial-residential district. The railroads, banks, manufacturing firms, barristers, and every other noteworthy business have their "Home Office," here. Its high rise apartments are favored by the trendy young of the middle and upper classes. Innumerable storefronts line the streets, and gigantic department stores have become a staple of the Selvanescan shopping experience. Among the businesses that keep offices here are the Selvanesco Guardian and Santori's of Luddovicco. Gloamwood This northwestern district resembles an enormous garden or parkland: neat brick paths wind around deliberate landscapes of concealing trees and brush, and eye-catching flower arrangements. Great lily-strewn lakes serve as pools for colorful water fowl, fish, and amphibians. Other than the pathways, all the necessary infrastructure of the city are carefully hidden from view. All this for the residents, who seem to want to see as little of the city or each other as possible. Gloamwood is no mere park, it is where the nobility and oldest of old money families keep their palazzos. Some of the paths lead to the stone walls or wrought-iron fences surrounding sprawling estates. Most are occupied seasonally or in shifts, as aristocratic families decamp from their country estates to attend to duties in the great city or the court of the Prince. Security is much tighter than it seems, as stepping off the paths draws the attention of concealed gendarmes, who also clear the paths of nonresidents before sundown. Harrow Island Once a mere sandbar with an outcropping of barnacle covered stone, Harrow Island was developed by the entrepreneur power-couple Victor and Reina Harrow, who increased its size and connected it to the mainland with a cantilever drawbridge. They built charming town houses and bungalows, a fairgrounds, and an extended boardwalk. It became a vacation spot, popular with the upper-middle class. Unfortunately, it also became the center of an elaborate smuggling ring, who found it easier to get things across the bridge than past the port authority on the mainland. It became the site of the first known gang battle to use guns, sending residents and tourists fleeing to the mainland. Rather than risk the lives of the Gendarme, the Prince ordered the drawbridge raised and was prepared to starve the quarreling factions into surrender. He has badly underestimated the proficiency of the smugglers, and now the island is practically an anarchic micro nation, filled with gangs who have occupied the posh townhomes, and a black market that supports them in the boardwalk. The lure of illicit adventure even draws in people unaffiliated with the gangs, who pay smugglers to get them on and off the island to partake of its pleasures. These days the people call Harrow Island by a new name, Bedlamburg. Piazza del Millennio Piccola Citta Porta Brillante Porta Splendente Trionfante del Nord Trionfante Sud Via Solenne During the infancy of the Church of The Stallion, services were held in the homes of congregation members, or in otherwise limited facilities. As it grew in popularity and size, it was able to re-purpose temples of other, diminished faiths. The Via Solenne however, is the first dedicated temple complex built for the Church's use, and its original headquarters before the conversion of the Tearvingauls. Practically a city within a city, it remains the second largest refuge of the church, bowing only to Krantschfell. Though the church facilities only cover some 62 hectares, it is surrounded by a community dedicated to serving the enormous number of pilgrims and tourists who arrive annually to behold the artwork, architecture, and relics. Universita di Sylvan Zaffiro Other Areas Isle of Repose The Isle, located off the coast of the Gloamwood district, west of Porta Brillante, is Selvanesco's necropolis. In contrast to the cemeteries and potter's field on the mainland, this is the home of the most honored dead, going back to Rolento the Sylvan. Like Gloamwood, it features well tended paths and gardens but rather than mansions, there are cul de sacs of tombs, monuments, and mausoleums. There is a small staff of resident caretakers who have their cottages near the Isle's jetty, they chain and lock the wrought iron gates at night to keep trespassers out and ghosts in. Swift's Electric Island What would become the Electric Island was once a minor navigation hazard, a bit of sand to the southwest of the Porta Splendente. It was a popular spot with adolescents of all classes who would row out to have bonfire parties with raucous music and pails of cheap beer. Among these youths were Edison and Nicholas Swift, who would eventually purchase the rock from the Prince. The twins developed a marvel of engineering known as the Swift Electric Plant. They harnessed the power of the tide and wind to generate electric power, creating an entire industry that has made Selvanesco the city of lights. The plant engulfs the whole island and extends into the surrounding ocean, thanks to an ingenious series of supports. It also has a jetty for the ferry that takes employees on and off the island. Rumor persists that the plant extends beneath the island and down into the ocean floor, but the employees have all signed a non-disclosure agreement that precludes confirmation. Category:Cities Category:Places